Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Anna Zaires

  She didn’t really know what to say, so she didn’t say anything. The sex had been incredible, and she hated the fact that he could make her feel like this—even without any chemical enhancers.

  Why did it have to be him, she thought bitterly, looking at his flat bronzed stomach moving up and down with every breath. Why couldn’t she have fallen for a normal human guy instead of an alien genius whose kind was taking over her planet?

  She felt the hot prickling of tears behind her eyelids and squeezed them tightly, not letting the moisture escape. Her body felt languid and tired in the aftermath of the sex session, but her mind kept buzzing, working overtime, looking for a solution where none could be found. Even if he cared for her in his own way, those feelings would turn to hatred once he learned the depths of her betrayal—and the hands that held her so gently now would likely end up wrapped around her throat.

  She must have tensed at the thought because he pulled away to look at her face and asked curiously, “What’s the matter?”

  When she hesitated, a worried frown appeared on his face. “Mia? What’s the matter? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  Mia shook her head, trying not to look him directly in the eyes. “No, of course not,” she said huskily, “it was wonderful . . . you know that—”

  “Then what?” he prodded, reaching out to grasp her chin and force her to meet his gaze.

  Mia tried to control herself, but the stupid tears wouldn’t leave her alone, welling up in her eyes.

  “It’s nothing,” Mia lied, silently cursing the fact that her voice was shaking, “I just . . . g-get this way when I’m stressed—”

  His frown got deeper. “Why are you so stressed? Is it your papers?” he asked, studying her with a perplexed look in his eyes.

  Mia nodded slightly, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to calm herself. He might become suspicious if her tears didn’t have a good explanation. Unless . . .

  Opening her eyes, she looked at him, no longer caring if he saw the glimmer there. “I really miss my family,” she confessed, and it was the truth. In this moment, she desperately wanted to be a child again, safe and sound in her parents’ house, with her mom making chicken soup with matzah balls and her dad reading a newspaper on the couch. She wanted to turn back the clock and go back to the last decade, to a time before people knew that there was life on other planets—and that their own planet would not belong to them much longer. To a time before she met the alien who was staring at her now with his beautiful amber eyes—the lover whom she had no choice but to betray.

  Korum seemed to accept her explanation. “Mia,” he said quietly, letting go of her chin, “you’ll see them soon, I promise. I’m getting closer to completing my business here, and then I will take you there—”

  “I haven’t even told them yet that I’m not coming,” said Mia, her voice thick with tears. “They’re expecting me this Saturday, and my plane ticket is nonrefundable—”

  He looked exasperated. “Are you worrying about money now? I will refund you the cost of the ticket—”

  “My parents are the ones who bought it.”

  “Okay, then I will refund the cost to your parents.” Taking a deep breath, he added, “Mia, you don’t ever have to worry about these logistics when you’re with me. I’ll always take care of you and your family—you don’t need to stress about money ever again. I know your parents’ finances are tight, and I would be more than happy to assist them financially—or in whichever way they need.”

  Mia swallowed a sob, feeling like an iron fist was squeezing her heart. As arrogant and high-handed as that statement was, she had no doubt that he was genuine in his offer. “Th-thank you,” she whispered, her voice breaking, “that’s very . . . generous of you—”

  “Mia,” he said softly, “I care about you, okay? I want you to be happy with me, and I will do whatever I can to make that happen.”

  His every word felt like he was cutting her with a knife, and she could no longer hold back. Burying her face in the pillow, she turned away from him and broke down crying, her entire body shaking from the force of her sobs.

  “Mia?” His voice sounded uncertain for the first time since she’d met him. “What . . . Why are you crying?”

  She cried even harder. She couldn’t tell him the truth, and the guilt was like acid in her chest, eating her up inside.

  Tentatively touching her back, he stroked it in a soothing manner, murmuring little endearments. When that didn’t seem to help, he pulled her into his arms, letting her bury her face in the crook of his neck and cry while he stroked her hair.

  So Mia cried. She cried for herself, and for him, and for the relationship that could never be . . . not even if he weren’t the enemy that she’d been spying on.

  After a few minutes, when her sobs began to quiet down, he reached somewhere and handed her a tissue, letting her wipe her face and blow her nose before asking softly again, “Why?”

  Mia looked at him, her vision still blurry with tears. The full truth was out of the question, of course, but she could tell him something that had been tormenting her for a while. “This is not right,” she whispered, her voice rough with residual tears. “You, me—it’s not right, it’s not natural . . . And it can never last—”

  “Why not?” he said softly. “It can last for as long as we want it to last.”

  “You’re not human,” she said, looking at him in disbelief. “How could it ever work for us?”

  He hesitated for a second and then said, gently brushing her hair off her face, “It can—just trust me on that, darling. I can’t really say more right now, but we will talk about it later . . . when the time comes.”

  Mia blinked in surprise, staring at him. This was something she hadn’t expected. Did he mean that there was some way for them to be together . . . as an actual couple? The implications of that were too big to contemplate right now, with her head pounding and her mind barely functioning in the aftermath of her emotional storm.

  He pulled away then and got off the bed. “I’ll bring you something to make you feel better,” he said, and left the room.

  Mia looked at the door, stifling a hysterical giggle at the thought that this was becoming a nightly occurrence. She just hoped he didn’t bring back the little tube.

  He brought back a glass filled with some kind of milky liquid and handed it to her.

  “What is it?” she asked, sniffing it with suspicion. It didn’t smell like anything.

  He grinned at her, showing the dimple. “Not poison, I promise. It’s just a little something to help you sleep better and take away your headache.”

  How did he know that her head was hurting? Mia blinked at him again.

  As though reading her mind, he said, “I know how humans feel after crying. This drink is meant more for helping with a cold or a flu, but it doesn’t have any harmful side effects, so you might as well drink it now and feel better.”

  Mia nodded in agreement and tasted the liquid. It didn’t have any flavor either; if not for the color, she would have thought she was drinking water. She felt dehydrated, so she gladly drank the entire glass. Almost immediately, the painful pressure around her temples eased, and the congested feeling in her nose disappeared. Another K wonder drug, apparently.

  “Why do you have all these medicines for humans?” she asked, the thought only now occurring to her. “Do you also use these for yourself?”

  He shook his head, smiling. “No, they’re human-specific. We have other ways to heal ourselves.”

  “So why have it then?” Mia persisted.

  He shrugged. “I knew that I would be living among humans and interacting with them. It only made sense to have a few basics handy in case of various emergencies.”

  Interacting with humans at his apartment? Mia suddenly felt an unwelcome pang of jealousy at the thought of other women being here, in this very bed. It wasn’t surprising, of course; he was a healthy, attractive male with a strong sex drive—it was perfectly normal
for him to have had other sex partners before her, both human and K.

  Or so she told herself. The green-eyed monster inside refused to listen to reason.

  Something of her thoughts must have shown on her face because he said softly, “And no, none of those interactions have been human women in recent months—definitely none since I met you.”

  “What about K women?” she blurted out, and then mentally kicked herself. She had no right to be jealous after what she’d done. He was her enemy, and she had treated him as such. It was absurd to feel so relieved that she was the only woman in his life right now. Their days together were numbered, and it shouldn’t matter whether Korum had been faithful to her or if he had fucked a hundred women in the past month. Yet somehow it mattered to her—and it mattered a lot.

  “None since we’ve met,” he said, smiling. He seemed pleased by her jealousy, and Mia nearly broke down crying again. Taking a deep breath, she controlled herself with great effort. A second crying fit would be even more difficult to explain.

  “Let’s go to sleep, shall we?” he suggested softly. “You still seem stressed, and you’ll probably feel better in the morning.”

  Mia nodded in agreement and lay down, covering herself with the blanket. Korum followed her example, pulling her toward him until they lay in his favorite spooning position.

  Against all odds, Mia drifted off to sleep as soon as she closed her eyes, feeling comforted by the heat of his body wrapped around her own.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Mia woke up on Wednesday morning with a sense of dread in her stomach.

  Today she had to tell her parents that she wasn’t coming to see them on Saturday. She still hadn’t come up with a good reason to explain the delay, especially since she was supposed to start her internship at the camp on Monday.

  And if Korum discovered her involvement in what was about to befall the K colonies, then it might be the last time she was speaking to her family in general. That made it even more imperative that she present an upbeat and positive image today, so as not to make her parents worry prematurely. It would be better if she left only good memories behind when she disappeared from their lives.

  At that thought, stupid tears threatened again, and Mia took a deep breath to control herself. She didn’t have time for this right now; she still had to write the last paper. Although it made no sense to care about something so trivial in her precarious situation, not writing the paper would be like giving up—and some small part of Mia was still hopeful that there might be light at the end of this tunnel, that some semblance of a normal life was still possible if she made it through the next couple of weeks unscathed.

  Clinging to that thought, Mia dragged herself out of bed and into the shower. Korum was nowhere to be found in the apartment, and she guessed he was off doing whatever he normally did during the day. It probably had something to do with tracking the Resistance fighters, but she had no way of knowing that for sure. Grabbing a quick breakfast, she headed to the library in the hopes that she might be better able to concentrate there.

  The day was beautiful and sunny—a perfect foil for her gloomy mood. Under normal circumstances, Mia would have taken a nice lengthy walk to the library, but time was of essence and she took a cab instead. Staying at Korum’s place and eating nearly all her meals with him, Mia was flush with cash for the first time in her college career. The student grants that helped pay for tuition and books also provided a minimal allowance for food and other living expenses, but it was usually just enough for her to survive on. Eating out in restaurants or taking cabs were indulgences that Mia could not normally afford, and it was nice to be able to splurge now that she didn’t worry so much about the cost of food.

  The library was a zoo. Just about every NYU student was there, frantically cramming for exams and writing papers. Of course, Mia realized, it was finals week. She should’ve just stayed in the comfortable study room Korum had set up for her, but she’d wanted to be some place where nothing reminded her of the mess that her life had become.

  After wandering around for a good fifteen minutes, she finally located a soft chair that had just been vacated by a pimply red-headed boy who looked like he was all of twelve years old. Quickly occupying it before anyone else saw her prize, Mia smiled to herself. Not that she was all that old, but some of the freshmen looked ridiculously young to her these days.

  Five hours later, Mia triumphantly finished the last sentence and saved her work. She still had to proofread the damn thing, but the bulk of the job was done. Gathering her things, she left the library and went to her own apartment, hoping to see Jessie and have a chance to talk to her parents.

  Jessie wasn’t home when she got there, so that left only the parents. Taking a deep breath, Mia turned on her computer and prepared to be as bright and bubbly as any college student who was almost done with finals week.

  “Mia! Sweetheart, how are you?” Her mom was in fine form today, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement and a huge smile on her face.

  Mia grinned back at her. “I’m almost done! Just have to proofread the last paper, and then the school year is officially over for me,” said Mia, keeping her voice purposefully upbeat.

  “Oh, that’s great!” her mom exclaimed. “We can’t wait to see you this weekend! Marisa and Connor are coming over on Sunday, and we’ll have a big dinner. I’ll make all your favorites. I already bought some eggs and even a bit of goat cheese—”

  “Mom,” interrupted Mia, feeling like she was dying a little inside, “there’s something I need to tell you . . .”

  Her mom paused for a second, looking puzzled. “What is it, honey?”

  Mia took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy. “One of my professors asked me for a big favor this week,” she said slowly, having come up with a semi-plausible story in the last few minutes. “There’s a program here at NYU where psychology students go and spend some time with disadvantaged high school kids from some of the worst neighborhoods . . .”

  “Uh-huh,” said her mom, a small frown appearing on her face.

  “It’s a great program,” lied Mia. “These kids don’t really have anyone to help them figure out the next steps, whether they should go to college or not, how they should apply if they decide to go . . . And you know, that’s exactly what I want to do—provide that type of counseling . . .”

  Her mom’s frown got a little deeper.

  Mia hurried with her explanation. “Well, I didn’t know about this program before, but I was chatting with my professor this week and mentioned my interest in counseling to him. And that’s when he told me about this program, and that he was actually desperately looking for a volunteer to help out for a week or two this summer—”

  “But you’re flying home on Saturday,” her mom said, looking increasingly unhappy. “When would you be able to do this?”

  “Well, that’s the thing,” said Mia, hating herself for lying like this, “I don’t think I can come home this weekend, not if I do this program—”

  “What! What do you mean, you can’t come home this weekend?” Her mom appeared livid now. “You already have a ticket and everything! And what about your camp internship? Aren’t you supposed to start that on Monday?”

  “I already spoke with the camp director,” lied Mia again. “He’s fine with pushing back my start date by two weeks. I explained the whole situation, and he was very understanding. And my professor said he’ll reimburse me for the cost of the ticket and even buy me another one to make up for this—”

  “Well, that’s the least he could do! What about the money you were going to earn during those two weeks of your internship?” her mom said angrily. “And what about the fact that we haven’t seen you since March? How could he ask you to do something like that, so last-minute?”

  “Mom,” said Mia in a pleading tone, “it’s a great opportunity for me. This is exactly what I want to do career-wise, and it’ll really boost my chances of getting into a good grad school. Plu
s, the professor said he’ll write me a glowing recommendation if I do this—and you know how important those are for grad school applications . . .”

  Her mom was blinking rapidly, and there was a suspicious glimmer in her eyes. “Of course,” she said, a wealth of disappointment in her voice, “I know that stuff is important . . . We were just so looking forward to seeing you this Saturday, and now this—”

  Every word her mom said was like a knife scraping at Mia’s insides. “I know, mom, I’m really sorry about this,” she said, blinking to hold back her own tears. “I’ll see you in a couple of weeks, okay? It won’t be so bad, you’ll see . . .”

  Her mom sniffed a little. “So no family dinner this Sunday, I guess.”

  Mia shook her head with regret. “No . . . but we’ll have one in two weeks, okay? I’ll cook and everything—”

  “Oh, please, Mia, you couldn’t cook to save your life!” her mom said irately, but a tiny smile appeared on her face. “I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t manage to boil water—”

  “I can boil water now,” said Mia defensively. “I’ve been living on my own for the last three years, you know, and I can even make rice—”

  The tiny smile became a full-blown grin. “Wow, rice? That is progress,” her mom said with barely contained laughter. “I honestly don’t know what you’re going to do when you meet someone . . .”

  “Oh, mom, not this again,” groaned Mia.

  “It’s true, you know. Men still like it when a woman can make a good meal, and keep the house—”

  “And do laundry, and be a general domestic slave, and yadda yadda yadda,” finished Mia, rolling her eyes. Her mom could be amazingly old-fashioned sometimes.

  “Exactly. Mark my words, unless you find some guy who likes to cook, you’ll be stuck eating takeout for the rest of your life,” her mom said ominously.